Anti-Victory

Yeeeeeah, so this morning's run was, well, non-existant. Too hot outside. Bed too comfy. Jen too lazy. I'm going to work on my dedication today and hopefully get out there tonight when we get back in town.

Victory!

I did it! I stressed out allllll day on Friday about my impending treadmill doom session. I was more obsessive about hydration than I was leading up to even my marathon. And honestly, for some reason, this seemed in my head to be more of a challenge. I'm not sure why it psyched me out so much, or why I let it, but it DID.

 

But, yeno. I'm awesome. And I totally did it.

 

I was pretty sure I was going to pop a lung at the end of the second 0.75mi interval, but we'll keep that just between us (me, and the internets, aka the no one who reads this. haha).

 

Today was ZUUUUUMBA, which is one of the best parts of my week. Today someone actually tapped me on the shoulder between songs and said she was so glad I was there because she was watching me and it helped her. SCARY! haha. Made me feel good though. Directly after she said that, naturally, they played a song I'd never done before, and I reverted to what I like to call The Flopping Fish, which probably made my new friend find herself someone else to watch. Which is all good.

 

Tomorrow we're going to Titusville to visit some of the hubby's family and maybe relax in their pool if the weather permits. Before we leave though (before the sun's up, actually), I'm going to get in a jog/run. Going to go for 4 miles, which should be extremely interesting. I'm going outside, which I haven't done in over two months.. and I haven't really run more than a mile and a half straight for about a month now. Not smart. But I've been having so much fun with intervals! Soooo I'm certain tomorrow's run won't exactly be pretty, between the heat/humidity and my lack of steady training for any kind of distance. But you have to start somewhere, and I definitely need to get started! I want to be able to be doing somewhere between 5-7mi on the weekends by the time the race rolls around, which is something like 12 weeks. Certainly do-able (heck, TNT marathon training is only 16 weeks!), but I'm going to have to put in the time. Such is life. No magic; just hard work.

Oooooh spinning

Took a spinning class yesterday at my friend's step-dad's new spin/yoga studio. Kicked my butt in the best way. Took a rest day today.. kind of concerned I might be getting shin splints on my right leg.. trying to ice once/day and stretch/strengthen. It hurt after my run on Tues, but is just slightly tender today. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Supposed to be doing 2x 0.75mi at race pace. This week and the following two weeks are going to be the hardest, I think.. really forcing myself to create a foundation on which to build. I know I'm pushing it and my body will revolt to a certain extent, so I'm going to have to be smart about it too. If I get an injury, I definitely won't make my goal.

 

So tomorrow will be torture on the treadmill, probably followed by "the butt machine," this bizarre mixture of a gazelle and a stairmaster.. Then I'll reward myself saturday morning with... ZUMBA!

 

I actually went out to lunch with my coworkers today to celebrate one of their birthdays and the going-away of a summer student, and we went to this little/amazing taco place. The latin music was awesome, and I was joking with a coworker (who I dragged to Zumba with me once before) that the music made me want to bust out my zumba moves. Not five minutes later, they played one of the Zumba songs we use all the time! It was really hard for me not to break out the whole routine, especially because this particular song features lots of yelling by the instructor. haha.

 

Two blog posts in as many days?! I guess I'm done for the year. haha. Hopefully not. :)

Update and a half

Well it's been a century or two since I last updated. In October of last year, I PRed at the Race for the Cure. Then in January I ran the Disney Half Marathon in Orlando, complete with snow and sleet. Easily the most horrible running experience of my life. Between not enjoying the training for it in general and not having an enjoyable race day, I decided that there would be no more long races in 2010. When the River Run came and went without me, it was the most glorious feeling to be tucked in my bed, sound asleep. I was getting to the point that I didn't like running, and there's no point in dragging myself through long runs if it meant I ended up hating the sport. My weight has been an issue as it is -- if I burn out on the one consistent exercise format I have, that won't be good.

 

So, short runs! Yay!

 

As I mentioned, the Race for the Cure was a great race for me. The weather was absolutely ideal -- 60 degrees and sunny. I managed to keep a 10min/mi pace through the entire thing, no walk breaks (I think my official pace is 10:02 or something, since the course is always a bit long). It was a challenge, but I felt so accomplished at the end of it. So that was my goal this year -- PR again in the same race. I'm super-optimistically shooting for 9:30, but I'll be happy with anything faster than 10.  Right now I have roughly 3 months. I can currently run 3 1/2mi intervals at 9:30.. that's a long way from 3.1mi with no walk breaks! I'm sort of doing a couch-to-5K type plan (which is odd for someone who's run a marathon to say) to get to the speed I want. I find that just trying to run faster over a set distance is more difficult for me. So if I start out at the pace I want, over short distance, I'm hoping it'll be more productive and I can just start to increase the distance and eventually stitch the intervals together. We'll see how that works out soon enough!

 

I've also focused a lot more on general fitness as opposed to running this year. I've been doing more weight circuit training since I joined a gym with a friend. And I've been doing intervals like I mentioned.. but I haven't been doing any long runs. I think this will probably hurt me in the long run (um, no pun intended), since I was running 7-10mi on the weekends this time last year. I need to kick it up in that department. I don't think just the intervals are going to be enough to get me to my goal. It's going to be rough though, considering that I haven't run outside since probably early June..? It's HOT out there!

In Love with Intervals

If I could do intervals every day, I would be a seriously happy girl!

 

Last night, did 4x800m(1/2mi) at 8:56/mi with 0.2mi walk in between.

 

And as I walked back up the driveway to the garage, the sky opened and it POURED. Talk about perfect timing! 

Oh, hello, blog!

Apparently August wasn't a good blog month for me. I knew it had been a while, but I didn't realize it had been quite THAT long. Luckily, I'm still keeping on top of tracking my workouts and I've been doing fairly good with my eating.

Run-down of long runs:
8/8: 5mi @ 14:09 -- ran 2mi and then did walk/run for the last 2. HOT
8/17: 6mi @ 11:38. Hoping for 11:30, but still pleased.
8/22: SKIPPED long run. BAD! Proceeded to eat half a box of cookies for dinner on Tuesday and not work out ALL week. Was terrified of 7mi on Sat.
8/29: 7mi @ 11:19!! This one completely and totally shocked me.

I started out and I thought "ok, this feels ok.. maybe it won't be so bad... Shut up, Jen, you're in the first mile. Of course it doesn't feel bad." And it definitely felt much worse after I hit 5mi. Actually it was tolerable until about 5.5mi, and then I was in "I NEED TO BE DONE NOW!!" mode. But I stuck it out, and I am completely and totally THRILLED with the pace. That was the pace I was running 3 and 4 miles in last year at this same time. I really really hope it's not a fluke. I want to keep getting stronger.

I'm actually excited to do 7mi again this weekend, to prove to myself that I can do it, and do it well!

Push it good!

Well, after a less-than-impressive run on the treadmill in the AC on Tuesday, I felt like I had something to prove yesterday on my 2-miler. I stuck to the happy AC'd treadmill, and managed a 10:27min/mi pace. I wouldn't win any medals, but I felt extremely accomplished. Then I took the dogs for a walk, and took Max to his agility class, which was a ton of fun. I wish Clancy was dog-friendly so that we could take him to something like that. I think he'd really enjoy it. I'm hoping that we can find something in the fall that might help him get socialized.. some kind of one-on-one lessons, maybe? It has to be a super controlled environment for me to feel comfortable trying it. It's no fun feeling like you brought the bully to the park.

 

I have another 3.5-miler to do tonight, and I'm going to take it nice and easy so I can be rested for the 5-miler on Saturday. I think I'll keep it no higher than 12min/mi for the first two miles. And on the treadmill, it's a little easier to force myself to stay at that pace. Well, a lot easier. I'm not about to run off the front of the thing. :)  I must say, it's been rather nice being able to run AFTER work. I can't wait until it starts cooling off. I can aaaaalmost feel it coming -- I drove back to my friend's condo with the windows down on Monday. Aaahhh.

 

After I do my run tonight I'm going to meet Dave back at the house after his run downtown, so I'll be able to get in some quality time with my boys. I won't have time for a movie, but we'll get some chill time and stuff some food in our faces. lol.

 

Wednesday Foodstuffs:

B: oatmeal-n-OJ

L: half of the steak leftover from Sunday and teryaki rice

S: dark chocolate square

D: two packs of oatmeal ... I was too tired to go get real food. lol